1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to automobile parking brakes and more particularly to parking brake cable adjusting devices for taking up any slack in the parking brake cables.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In FIG. 1, a typical parking brake cable adjusting device is shown which comprises a brake lever 10 which is pivotally mounted at 12 on a bracket 14 which is in turn mounted on a floor panel 16 of a vehicle body. A front cable 18 has a threaded end section 20 attached to an end of the brake lever 10 by means of an adjusting nut 22 and a locknut 24. The front cable 18 extends through a sheath 26 into a space under the floor panel 16 and terminates at an end attached to an adjuster 28 having a nut 30 welded thereto. To the adjuster a threaded end of a rear cable 32 is screwed and secured thereto by means of a locknut 34. The other end of the rear cable 32 is connected to a brake-operating mechanism of a rear brake, though not shown in the drawing.
In the above structure, the parking brake cables 18 and 32 may stretch after a period of time, and if so they are adjusted to take up excess play of the brake lever 10. To carry out the adjustment, the locknut 24 or 34 is slackened and the adjusting nut 22 or the adjuster 28 is tightened until all free play is taken out of the cables. The locknut 24 or 34 is then tightened.
The parking brake cable adjusting device described as above is disadvantageous since frequent manual adjustment is required to keep the brake lever free of excess play and further since the frequent adjustment inevitably requires much time and cost.